Saturday, March 21, 2015

While Americans are fretting about the drama between
President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, France has stepped forward
to take a leading role in the negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.

I posted about this a few days ago. This morning the story
is on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.

What does France have that Obama does not have?

Toughness.

It should give us pause.

The Journal reports:

France
is again adopting the toughest line against Iran in negotiations aimed at
curbing Tehran’s nuclear program, potentially placing Paris at odds with the
Obama administration as a diplomatic deadline to forge an agreement approaches
at month-end….

French
diplomats have been publicly pressing the U.S. and other world powers not to
give ground on key elements—particularly the speed of lifting United Nations
sanctions and the pledge to constrain Iran’s nuclear research work—ahead of the
March 31 target.

Paris
also appears to be operating on a different diplomatic clock than Washington,
arguing that the date is an “artificial” deadline and that global powers should
be willing to wait Tehran out for a better deal if necessary.

The story continues:

“Making
the end of March an absolute deadline is counterproductive and dangerous,”
France’s ambassador to the U.S., Gérard Araud, said viaTwitter after the latest round of
negotiations in Switzerland concluded Friday.

“No
agreement without concrete decisions on issues beyond the enrichment capability
question,” he said a day earlier, specifically mentioning the need for
extensive monitoring and clarity on Iran’s past research work. Western officials
believe they included the pursuit of nuclear-weapon capabilities.

In a
sign of France’s determination, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius called
his negotiating team in Lausanne on Thursday to insist no deal could be forged
that allowed for the rapid easing of U.N. Security Council measures, according
to European officials.

France
worries the quick repeal of the U.N. penalties could lead to a broader collapse
of the West’s financial leverage over Tehran, according to these officials.

Paris
is demanding Tehran address evidence that it has conducted research into the
development of nuclear weapons to get those U.N. penalties relaxed. Iran has
for years denied the allegations and some officials fear that forcing Tehran to
publicly reverse itself could break the diplomacy.

The story suggests that France is taking firmer position because it wants to maintain good ties with Israel and because it has
extensive business dealings with the Saudis and the Emirates.

One notes that the Saudis and the Emirates have sided with
Netanyahu against Obama. Last week the Emirate media even suggested that a
Netanyahu victory was best for the region.